Some of the Russian Embassy staff in Chisinau weren’t preoccupied with diplomacy as much as they had other special missions, thinks the political pundit Anatol Țăranu, formerly Moldova’s ambassador to Russia.
Two days ago, 45 employees of the Russian Embassy had to leave Moldova after the government in Chisinau adopted a diplomatic parity approach. Țăranu believes this was the right thing to do given the “defiant” remarks and behavior of Russian officials in relation to Moldova.
“Russian diplomacy behaves defiantly in relation to Moldova. Take the brash remarks constantly coming from Moscow voiced by the MFA spokeswoman, for example. But not only her. There are also the Russian lawmakers, or the foreign minister Lavrov. They haven’t been very diplomatic, to put it mildly. This defiance coming from Moscow is part of a behavior that Moscow has long adopted towards the former Soviet republics. First of all, towards those that have failed to take their sovereignty and independence more seriously and with more dignity. The Republic of Moldova, sadly enough, is one such former Soviet republic, hence this defiant, impudent behavior by Russia, which is constantly trying to mar Moldova’s reputation internationally”, said Anatol Țăranu during a public affairs show on Vocea Basarabiei.
According to Țăranu, some of the staff at the Russian Embassy in Moldova had “special missions”, and given Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, telling Moscow to cut the number of diplomatic staff was the right thing to do.
“A significant part, if not most of those who have been accredited here as diplomats were not only preoccupied with diplomatic matters; they had completely other missions. It’s a know fact that Russia has been using diplomatic missions and embassies to do jobs that would better suit special services, this is absolutely obvious. But today the situation in Moldova is very special: there is a war in our neighborhood. We stand in solidarity with Ukraine, which is fighting against Russian aggression. Meanwhile, Russian officials have more than once voiced warnings in relation to Moldova, like ‘we want to create a land corridor to reach Transnistria, and then our mighty and victorious Russian army will cross the Prut and reach as far as Bucharest’. Such remarks were heard on Russian national television. So, what we were to do?”, Anatol Țăranu said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned Chisinau’s decision as “an unfriendly gesture that will have serious consequences” on the bilateral relationship.
